


Tsukishima Kei's Second-Favorite Photo Album

by iamthefacebehindthemask



Series: Snapshots From Tsukishima Kei's Third Year At Karasuno High School [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Background Relationships, Birthday Fluff, Birthday Presents, Bisexual Character, Captain Tsukishima Kei, Established Relationship, First Kiss, Friendship, Getting Together, Humor, Implied Relationships, M/M, Memories, Mentioned Akaashi Keiji, Mentioned Bokuto Koutarou, Mentioned Kozume Kenma, Mentioned Kuroo Tetsurou, Mentioned Sugawara Koushi, Romance, Vice-Captain Kageyama Tobio
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-11
Updated: 2016-11-11
Packaged: 2018-08-24 13:14:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8373544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iamthefacebehindthemask/pseuds/iamthefacebehindthemask
Summary: For Yamaguchi's birthday.Alternatively, the one where Kei breaks tradition.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I'm really turning into a birthday fic writer, aren't I?  
> I really wanted this to be uploaded in time for our precious Yamaguchi's birthday, so please forgive any errors!

One evening, Kei was adding photographs from Karasuno's recent matches (Takeda-sensei had a good eye for the right moments, really) to his laptop, when he came across a folder he hadn’t opened for a while: a collection of photographs of him and Tadashi.

He figured he had time to take a little detour, so he clicked on the icon, and delved into the hundreds of memories he had saved there. He scrolled through the folder for a bit, laughing here and there and smiling wistfully at a few, before opening another folder within that contained his absolute favorites.

* * *

 

 **Photo Description** : Elementary school kids, Kei and Tadashi, are standing next to each other with ice cream cones in their hands. Well, at least Kei was still holding his when the photo was taken; Tadashi’s grip on the cone had slackened at the exact moment that Kei’s mother had snapped the picture, and it was halfway to its new destination- the ground. Kei, who hadn’t realized what was happening, had his usual stoic expression on (he was quite solemn even at that age), while Tadashi looked like his worst nightmare had come true, his arms outstretched as if trying to freeze time, or even rewind it a bit.

In the present time, Kei chuckled remembering the embarrassed and apologetic expression on Tadashi’s face for the rest of the day. He had apologized to Kei’s mother about a hundred times by the time they had reached the Tsukishima residence, stopping only when he saw her put a bowl of ice cream in front of him, a sweet smile on her face. Kei would never tell him how relieved he had been that his freckly best friend had perked up again.

 **Photo Description** : Twenty fingers, each finger with a unique nail paint color, is the focus of this image. Kei’s mother had asked the two boys to try on several types of nail paint so that she could see what would go best with her dress for the event she was attending (she had tried asking Akiteru, a high-schooler then, but the answer was a firm no before the question had even been asked). Till date, Kei stuck to his story that he had only agreed to do it because Tadashi had looked really curious and excited at the prospect. He cited this reason for also making sure their faces wouldn’t be in the picture when his father walked in with a camera; he had wanted to avoid any potential blackmail material that his brother could have on him.

Presently, Kei’s cheeks were tinged red as he recalled asking his mother afterward in a quiet voice if they could hold off removing the nail paint right away; Tadashi had not looked that ecstatic in a while and Kei wanted to preserve that joy just for a few more hours. The boys had continued on with what they always did whenever Tadashi came over: they had a ball passing contest with Akiteru, watched cartoons, ate dinner and went to bed. Had Kei not remembered to ask his mother to take the paint off in the morning, they both would have been the laughing stock of the school, which was very uncool, in blonde’s own words.

 **Photo Description** : The two of them are lying on Tadashi’s bed, faces flushed like they’d just finished running a marathon. This photo was a selfie from one of their weekly sleepovers, and they had just finished watching a movie before giving their first kiss to each other.

They had experimented with each other a few times after that too, thought Kei, as he remembered that night. It had happened during their first year at Karasuno, right after they had joined the volleyball team, but before they had warmed up to any of the other team members. The movie they had watched that night was a romantic comedy. As cliché as it was (“Why on earth do people need to kiss so much?” was an unanswerable question for Kei until Kuroo had come along), it had ended with the two actors kissing before the credits came on, and since they were the hormonal teenagers that they were, they both had been wondering how it felt to be kissed.

Tadashi had shocked both of them by actually voicing those thoughts a moment later, and then, without warning, Kei had put his arms on his best friend’s shoulders, gotten closer, and kissed him on what he claims till date was an impulse. Their faces were burning when they broke apart, but two things were clear to both of them: there was no mutual attraction, and that they both were, to some extent, attracted to guys. Kei had grabbed his phone right after, taken a photo as they lay on the bed with their faces centimeters apart, and sent Tadashi a copy so that they both would have something to commemorate the moment.

(In the end, Kei figured that it was all for the best because Tadashi came out to him as bisexual approximately a month after that night.)

 **Photo description** : The photo is of the train window, or rather, of their faces being reflected in it. Kei has a straight face on, while Tadashi is grinning and holding up a peace sign. This picture is one of the rare occasions in which Kei isn’t wearing his glasses (he got contacts a few months after his first year of high school). The reflections of their faces blend in with the scene outside; vast expanses of green, a few people walking, and the blue sky. The photo was taken when, during their second year at Karasuno, the two of them had decided to take a trip to Tokyo all by themselves.

Kei’s memory of that day’s events (and everything leading up to it) was crystal clear till date. A few days before the trip, he had asked Tadashi to accompany him after a lot of hesitation, and his best friend had agreed, no questions asked. It was going to be his 6-month anniversary with Kuroo on the day Kei had proposed they go, but Kuroo was swamped with assignments, and so Kei had decided to surprise his boyfriend by traveling to his university. And Bokuto, who was Kuroo’s roommate, assured Kei that Kuroo would be in his room at the time that Kei was expected to arrive. Even after he had asked Tadashi, though, Kei felt guilty because he thought his best friend would get bored, but the latter assured him that he had plans of his own; Tadashi had called Sugawara, who was at the same university as Kuroo and Bokuto, and made plans to hang out with him (“Sugawara-san says the malls are really good around here, Tsukki, so I figured I should buy a gift for my mom’s birthday while I’m here”, apparently).

The look on Kuroo’s face when he opened the door to his boyfriend was something Kei would keep saved forever, not only because of how shocked and delighted he looked, but also because Bokuto had had the presence of mind (a rare occurrence, according to Kei) to snap a picture of it and had sent it to Kei, Akaashi, and Kenma (who passed his phone around at practice to show the rest of the Nekoma volleyball team).

 **Photo Description** : Kei, now pretty close to 200 centimeters in height, has a rare smile gracing his face as Tadashi, Hinata and Kageyama hug him. The photo was taken right after Karasuno won a match with the help of Kei’s kill block that shut out the spike by the opponent team’s ace spiker. This was when Karasuno went to the Spring National Championship during Ennoshita’s captaincy.

Yachi, who had been sitting on the bench with Takeda-sensei and coach Ukai, had grabbed her camera and captured this phenomenal moment. When she showed it to Tadashi right after, he was so overwhelmed with emotion that he had lifted her in his arms and kissed her (while Kageyama and Kei had muttered “Finally” with identical deadpan expressions). Which was how those two had finally gotten together after months and months of tiptoeing around one another and how they felt for each other. 

* * *

 

At present, Kei shut his laptop, still lost in thought, and looked at the neatly wrapped present sitting atop his bedside table. It was a polaroid camera that Kei had paid for by working at a part-time job all summer. He knew Tadashi really wanted one because of how the latter longingly stared at the one Yachi had received from her mother, so he wasn’t worried about that. In fact, this gift would be very typical of Kei, who was always known for his very practical gifts (he literally gave Tadashi a goodie bag full of stationery on the first birthday they celebrated after they became friends). Meanwhile, Tadashi focused on the sentimental value of the gifts he gave, such as bouquets, surprise birthday parties, and the like, which Kei claimed were useless in the long run (“It’s all about the affection and love that goes into it, Tsukki!”).

What Kei also knew was that Tadashi himself liked to receive such gestures. And that in a few hours, it would be his 18th birthday. He wasn’t sure if the plan forming in his head was a result of all the nostalgia from the memories he had just recalled, but he was sure that he would go through with it.

After some more contemplation, Kei picked up his phone.

“Hey, Hinata, I need a favor.”

* * *

 

“Tobio, you’ve written an essay, you know. Wait, why is this mostly about his jump floater serve?!”

“It’s not an essay! Shut- SHUT UP, you dumbass!”

“Your Highness, it’s been three years since you’ve been on this team. You really should update your ‘Hinata insults’ folder. Or, do you perhaps not have space for more than one insult? Pfffft.”

“Why, you little- “

“Um, everyone, Tadashi’s almost here; is the gift ready?”

“We’re ready for him, Hitoka!”

“Why are you saying that like you’re challenging him to a fight?”

* * *

 

“Uh, hello…?”, Tadashi trailed off, uncertainly.

The gym where afternoon practice was always held was suspiciously empty. Even their coach wasn’t present for some reason, which was definitely a very bad sign. Now that he thought about it, Kei had seemed weird all day, too. He’d been perfectly normal while they were walking to school, but had mysteriously disappeared several times throughout the day, one time saying he had to ask Kageyama for tips on improving the precision of his jump serve (“Since when did you start asking _Kageyama_ for advice?” was responded to with “Since we developed mutual respect for each other’s abilities”). Tadashi had scoffed at that but hadn’t given it any more thought. Now, however, he was wondering if that was linked to the mystery of the deserted gym, somehow.

 _I am pretty sure we didn’t cancel practice today_ , he pondered. A voice behind him made him jump and squeal in surprise.

“Tadashi.”

When he turned around, the entire team was standing there, mischievous grins on their faces. Coach Ukai just marched past them and into the gym, but no one followed, so Tadashi stood still as well.

“There you guys are! I was wondering if I had shown up too early or something. Well, let’s get started!” he exclaimed.

“We want to give you something to show our gratitude first. So, from all of us, coach included, happy birthday”, Hinata explained in a cheerful voice. He then produced a volleyball covered in what looked like scribbles all over it and presented it to Tadashi.

“Happy birthday!” the rest of the team echoed.

“This- it’s for me?”

“Yeah! We all wrote something about you that we were really thankful for, and then signed it! Tobio decided to take up more than half the space, though- “

“Hinata, you dumbass!” Kageyama interjected.

“-I love you too, but seriously, you’ve got to be considerate. Anyway, we did this just today, because Tsukishima only told me last night- “

“Wait, this was _Kei’s_ idea? Are you sure?” Tadashi now turned to his best friend in astonishment.

Kei looked away. “I just figured, you know, you’ve always done the most thoughtful things; you helped me get together with Kuroo-san, you’ve accompanied me in tasks when you didn’t have to, and you’ve been the most incredible best friend to someone who doesn’t deserve your goodness, so it was only right to let you know how much I… appreciate that. And I thought, why not make it a team project and have everyone else also express their gratitude.”

“Kei!” And with that exclamation as his only warning, Tadashi hugged Kei like his life depended on it.

* * *

 

After many hugs (and some tears, because _hey I can cry on my birthday_ ), practice, meat buns at Sakanoshita, and giving his gift to Tadashi, Kei was back at his desk, adding the photographs he was supposed to add the previous evening. He saw a different folder this time, labeled “Kuroo-san”, and beamed.

_But diving into his **favorite album** and all the stories in those pictures is a tale for another time._

**Author's Note:**

> If you've reached this point, thank you so much for reading!
> 
> Kudos and comments are very welcome!


End file.
